The Hijaz

The Hijaz is the religious heartland of Islam, being home to the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina. As a result, it receives much more traffic than the rest of Arabia, particularly in the form of pilgrims. In addition, its position on the Red Sea makes it an important way station for maritime trade between the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean, and its coasts are dotted with harbors that provide shelter for ships traveling to and from Egypt, the main link between the two. Sahir communities are notably few or found only far from the main cities — the density of Divine auras and regiones makes magic difficult and, even without The Gift, wizards of all types prefer to keep a very low profile to avoid provoking elements of the religious authorities. The roads to Mecca and Medina are choked with Infernal jinn, seeking to corrupt souls by encouraging impious thoughts and sowing doubt in the minds of pilgrims.

Non-Muslims are not permitted to come within the harams ((HA-ramz); sing. haram) of the cities of Mecca and Medina, sacred areas extending about five miles out of each of the cities. This may, however, be problematic when designing stories involving the two holy cities, unless the entire party consists of Muslim characters. You may wish to adopt one of the following approaches:

• • The characters may seek to visit the holy cities without being discovered. Magic will certainly help in this regard, though once the characters are within the cities they are likely to have difficulty casting spells due to the high Dominion auras there. Mundane disguises may actually be a better option, though the characters will need to be at least slightly skilled to avoid discovery. Needless to say, doing this is a grave act of sacrilege, and characters caught trying to sneak into the cities in this way will face severe penalties.
• • You may wish to have a smaller group, consisting of only Muslim characters, visit the city, with the other members of the troupe taking on the roles of

other Muslims whom the characters meet along the way.

• • Alternatively, maybe a special arrangement can be made if the characters are able to prove their need to visit the cities. Maybe they may visit as long as they are accompanied by representatives of the local authorities, or maybe the holy sites are still off-limits to the non-Muslim characters, but they may visit the other parts of the cities freely.
• • A more radical, but probably the easiest, solution is to assume that non-Muslims are allowed to visit the Mythic versions of the holy cities, with no further complications or restrictions involved.

Whatever approach you take, a visit to the holy cities, for a Muslim or a non-Muslim, should be an intensely religious experience. These are, after all, cities where God intervened directly and frequently in human affairs, and such concentrated divine attention has left a legacy of holiness that affects all who visit. As one result of this, the harams bear Dominion auras of 3, and the Dominion auras in the cities themselves are usually 4 and often even higher. Fighting and the taking of life (except slaughtering animals for food or destruction of savage or diseased animals) is forbidden in the haram areas of the two holy cities. Unless otherwise noted, all Muslim Dominion auras within these areas bear a Calm Temper Trait at a score of +3 (see Realms of Power: The Divine, pages 38-39). Transgressors may be struck down with a visible manifestation of God's ire, even for minor infringements — reports of impious travelers provoking instances of the Curses Ignis Domini, Smiting of the Lord , or Swallowed Alive and Sent to Hell are wellknown, albeit rare (see Realms of Power: The Divine, page 89).

Medina, Madinat al-Nabi ((ma-DEEnat un-NA-bee), "the City of the Prophet"), is the second holy city of Islam and is situated on a flat plain cradled between several mountains and ancient lava flows, the junction of a number of valleys and passes through the mountains. The soil is unusually fertile, and a variety of fruits and cereals are grown here. The city is surrounded by strong walls with watchtowers built by the sultan of Syria, Nur al-Din (r. 1146–1174), in 1162. The governor currently owes allegiance to the sultan of Egypt, although the city is largely left to run its own affairs. The city has traditionally been home to a large number of religious scholars; the famous jurist Malik ibn Anas (d. 795), who founded the major Sunni school of law that became known as the school of the Malikis ((MEH-li-keez), "the followers of Malik"), is one of those who lived and worked here.

Dominion auras in Medina are one point higher than they would be elsewhere, and the city is the site of numerous mosques, shrines, and other historical sites.

The holy city of Mecca lies in a valley between several mountains, sheltered from the winds and heat of the wilderness. The city contains both urban dwellings and a multitude of shrines, convents, religious colleges, and especially mosques, of which there are 100. At its center lies the greatest of these, the Haram Mosque, within which is the Ka'ba. As indicated earlier, the Arabic term haram indicates the inviolable sacred areas surrounding and including Mecca and Medina (see Non-Muslims and the Holy Cities, earlier), but it is also used to indicate the Haram Mosque specifically. The divine influence on Mecca is clear: the climate is supernaturally mild, vegetation grows lush but never wild, and a sense of peace pervades the streets. As in Medina, all Dominion auras in the city are one point higher than they would be normally.

Mecca is always densely populated. In addition to the townsfolk who serve the city's needs, many religious scholars live and work in the Haram Mosque and the other religious buildings here. In addition, the city sees constant traffic as pilgrims arrive, stay for periods ranging from a couple of weeks to a few years, then move on again. The majority of the people who live in Mecca are Sunnis, but there are also a large number of Zaydi (ZAY-dee) Shi'is here. Pilgrims come from almost all Muslim denominations.

The city is ruled by a governor known as the Grand Sharif (sha-REEF), a descendent of the Prophet through his grandson al-Hasan and a member of the Hawashim clan; the current Grand Sharif is Qatada

The Lava Flows of Medina

The lava flows around Medina cooled and hardened centuries ago, but occasional earthquakes open cracks in them, allowing fresh lava to flow out. The characters learn that the earthquakes are not a natural phenomenon, but are instead the results of experiments by forces hostile to Medina who is attempting to reliquify the lava flows all around the city. Will they be able to stop them before they achieve this and drown the holy city in molten lava?

The Lost Lords of Mecca

The Jurhumites are an ancient tribe of jann*-blooded Bedouin who once ruled Mecca and areas of the Hijaz. They rejected Islam and appeared to be defeated by the early armies but now live on within old tales about the pre-Islamic tribes of Arabia. The whole tribe now consists of Faerie jann,* although a few jinn*-*blooded sahirs are secretly considered adopted members of their clan. They are best represented as dark Faerie Jinn and play roles in stories about crises of faith or dishonor and tend to have more elemental magic (specifically Auram and Terram powers) at their disposal than their usual Faerie cousins (see Chapter 4: The Jinn). As former inhabitants of Mecca, Jurhumites are potential guides for non-Muslims attempting to infiltrate the holy cities for subterfuge or war, being privy to secret ways into the closed areas.

The Jurhumite sahir might seek out Hermetic magi to aid them in their feud against the current regime. Are the Jurhumites behind the change in the lava flows around Medina, or are they merely being used as scapegoats by a opportunistic group of renegade sahir?

The Restoring Waters of Zamzam

On the night after the end of Ramadan, the Divine aura in the Well of Zamzam at Meca's Haram mosque dips slightly and the water in the well can be harvested by moonlight as an unusual form of Extraordinary Aquam Vis. Each mouthful of water is able to restore all of a character's lost Fatigue Levels through an unknown ritual level non-Hermetic effect. Hermetic magi may be tempted to obtain such a remarkable substance, whether for personal use or as a potential source of Insight into overcoming the Hermetic Limit of Energy.

The Marid of the Well

Unknown to most of the pilgrims, the eponymous Zamzam — an ancient Magic marid — lies trapped in a suppressed Magic regio at the base of the Well of Zamzam at Mecca's Haram mosque, its powers overcome by the overwhelming Divine aura. The spirit's remaining magical power preserves the well's amazingly pure water but it has come to resent its imprisonment by the Dominion.

Ancient beyond belief, the Zamzam marid may also have knowledge of the past useful to the characters that cannot be gained from any other source, but how can one discreetly communicate with such an entity within the most holy shrine of Islam? If freed, what would its actions be and how would the Muslim authorities react to such desecration of the ancient spring?

The Mosque of the Jinn

A magus of House Merinita hires the characters to conduct an investigation into the Mosque of the Jinn at Mecca, demanding that they provide an extensive report on its denizens and visitors in the hope of understanding how and why such Faerie creatures seemingly ape the worship of the Dominion without producing a Divine aura.

The normally hospitable Jinn become considerably less enthusiastic when it becomes apparent that the characters are there to observe, rather than take part in Muslim worship, since it is from human participation in the latter that the jinn derive vitality. Many of the jinn object to being treated like lab specimens. How can the characters resolve this situation without upsetting either their hosts or their employer?

(r. 1201–1220). If your saga follows history, in 1220, Qatada, along with many other members of his family, is killed when his son al-Hasan carries out a massacre to ensure his succession. However, the Ayyubid sultan of Yemen, al-Mas'ud Yusuf, steps in to quell the chaos and imposes military rule. The Grand Sharifs only regain control after the sultan's death in 1229.

The Haram Mosque and the Ka'ba

The Haram Mosque is the most sacred of mosques, the building that holds the Ka'ba, the shrine built by Adam under the guidance of angels, and subsequently rebuilt by Abraham and his son Ishmael. It takes the form of a rectangular courtyard, around which are highly-decorated open halls supported by multiple rows of columns. Off the northwest hall is the Dar al-Nadwa (DAHR un-NAD-wa), a building constructed around a second hall, where consultation is carried out between religious scholars and the Grand Sharif. Off the southwest hall is a building used by scholars of the Maliki legal school. The mosque has twenty gates and seven minarets. The Dominion aura here is overwhelming, with a score of 10. Muslim characters may invoke baraka here to request any of the Saint Powers listed in Realms of Power: The Divine, pages 88–89; if required, the site counts as having Divine Might of 100.

The Ka'ba itself takes the form of a cuboid shrine, about 40 feet on each side and 46 feet tall. Although it is richly decorated, the upper parts of the walls are generally kept mostly covered with a green drapery known as the kiswa (KISwa). Implanted into the wall at the eastern corner, about five feet from the ground, is the Black Stone, said to have been cast from Heaven to show Adam and Eve where to build the Ka'ba. According to tradition, the stone was originally white but turned black as it absorbed sins over the centuries. Muslim pilgrims attempt to touch or kiss the stone to gain forgiveness for their sins.

The Ka'ba may be entered through a door on the northeast wall, which is about seven feet above ground level and reached by a wheeled set of wooden steps that is pushed up to the door when it is opened. The inside is richly decorated with slabs of marble of many colors, and normally one finds within three columns that support the roof, a staircase leading to the roof, and a variety of Muslim artifacts and relics, including several ancient and valuable copies of the Qur'an and documents on the walls that record the activities of those who renovated the Ka'ba. The exception is on days when the Ka'ba is opened to the public, which is most Mondays and Fridays, for on those days pious Muslims who enter the Ka'ba find themselves in a terrestrial divine regio, still at aura level 10, which represents an even more richly decorated version of the Ka'ba and has the distinctive feature of being able to accommodate more people than could normally fit inside the building.

Muslims in the Ka'ba usually seek to pray at the place where the Prophet used to pray, about five feet from the southwest wall, and at such times, miraculously, they may all pray in the same place without crowding each other. Whether the regio is accessible or not, Muslims may seek to invoke baraka from Muhammad both inside and just outside the Ka'ba.

Within the courtyard of the Haram mosque also lies the marble domed Well of Zamzam, about 20 yards east of the Ka'ba. Revealed to Ibrahim's wife Hajar when she was searching for water for her thirsty son Ishmael, the well is older than the first buildings of Mecca. The waters are clean and pure but although they are drunk by many Muslim pilgrims as part of their devotion, they do not usually have any supernatural properties.

Al-Ma'la Cemetery and the Mosque of the Jinn

Say (O Muhammad): It is revealed unto me that a company of the Jinn gave ear, and they said: Lo! We have heard a marvelous Qur'an,

Which guideth unto righteousness, so we believe in it and we ascribe no partner unto our Lord.

And (we believe) that He exalted be the glory of our Lord hath taken neither wife nor son,

And that the foolish one among us used to speak concerning Allah an atrocious lie.

— The Qur'an 72: 1-4

On the northern edge of Mecca is the cemetery of al-Ma'la, where many of the Prophet's family members and followers are buried, including Amina, his mother; Khadija, his first wife; and 'Abd al-Muttalib, his grandfather. Near the cemetery is a mosque known as the Mosque of the Jinn, where a group of jinn heard the Prophet reciting the Qur'an and were thereby persuaded to convert to Islam.

The mosque has since become the apparent center of jinn worship of God, and they continue to gather publicly at this place, so that at prayer times, and especially at the Friday noon prayer, it bustles with Faerie jinn of all manner of shapes and sizes. Even the mosque officials are undisguised jinn.

Unspoken convention requires that all jinn attending prayers avoid assuming forms that are too monstrous or so large as

The hajj is one of the five "Pillars of Islam," five practices that mark someone as being a Muslim. All Muslims are obliged to perform the hajj at least once during their lifetime, if at all possible. For most who undertake it, it is a life-changing event, often leading them to abandon inappropriate practices and make a new start in life.

Details of the hajj are presented in Realms of Power: The Divine, page 108.

A Muslim who has completed the hajj gains a Personality Trait of Pious +3. The Muslim also gains 3 Faith Points. It is possible to undertake the hajj again to regain the Personality Trait and Faith Points, but repeated performance of the hajj will never raise the Personality Trait above +3.

to take up too much space in the mosque. A few humans also attend prayers at the mosque, interacting freely with its supernatural inhabitants. Respectful mortals, including sahirs and other wizards, are always welcomed, if sometimes a bit overenthusiastically. The mosque has a Faerie Aura of 4 which rises to 5 when the jinn are attending prayers.

About 60 miles to the southeast of Mecca, built on the mountain slopes, lies the town of Ta'if. Before the rise of Islam, Ta'if was the site of a major idol to the Arabian goddess al-Lat, goddess of fertility and patron of shepherds and caravan travelers, but after the Muslim conquest of the city in 631 this idol was destroyed. Ta'if is well-known for its orchards, and it supplies fruit to many other towns of the region, including Mecca.

The Cult of the Daughters of Allah

Al-Lat was one of three major goddesses worshiped in the local area, the other two being al-Manat, goddess of fortune and destiny, whose cult was based at a place called al-Qudayd, at an unknown location about ten miles from Medina, and al-'Uzza, goddess of strength and the planet Venus, who was worshiped at a sanctuary on the outskirts of Mecca. These three goddesses were known as the "Daughters of Allah." Even before the rise of Islam, Allah was worshiped by the pagans as a supreme creator god, and these Daughters are connected with a story known as that of the "Satanic Verses," which by 1220 has been circulating for centuries among Muslim scholars.

According to this story, at one point during the Prophet's lifetime, the Qur'anic revelation allegedly was somehow adulterated by Iblis, who managed to achieve the temporary insertion into the text of verses that permitted the Muslims to ask the Daughters of Allah to intercede with Him on their behalf. According to the story, this was immediately corrected by God, who revealed to His Prophet verses that rejected such a role for the goddesses. Whether this incident actually happened remains a matter of debate among Muslim scholars of the 13th century.

In Mythic Arabia, Ta'if is home to the Cult of the Daughters of Allah, a family-based cult that has secretly kept the worship of the Daughters of Allah alive throughout the centuries. At any given point in time, there are three members of the family, each of whom can channel the power of one of the three deities. The family's ultimate objective is to restore the worship of the Daughters of Allah, but first they need to find the sanctuaries of all three goddesses; they have found the sanctuaries of al-Lat and al-'Uzza, and now they are in the process of seeking out al-Qudayd and the lost sanctuary of al-Manat. The current family consists of a

Poetry has an important place in Bedouin culture, the earliest examples dating from before the rise of Islam. Thepoet (shai'ir ; not to be confused with sahir) and the reciter (rawi) hold a position combining elements of historian, soothsayer, and panegyrist. Verses in praise of the tribe or sheikh, known as qit'ah, and scathing attacks on the virtue of other tribes, referred to as hija', form the bulk of the works transmitted through oral tradition. Zajal, mock battles in verse, remain popular as a way of resolving hostilities between Bedouin sahirs. This is mechanically an opposed roll of Communication + Solomonic Storytelling for sahirs, or Communication and Folk Ken for battles between mundanes, but characters with an Arabic score of 6 or greater gain a +2 to their total.

Poetry and storytelling remain an integral part of Arab life in the 13th century and it is thought that exceptional performances may produce wondrous effects. The Art of Memory, valued by Islamic scholars for reciting the Qur'an, is believed to have originated among the pagan poets. Enchanting Poetry and Entrancement are common among Bedouin poets, even among non-wizards, and the former is the most commonly initiated Major Supernatural Virtue gained through devotion to muru'a.

A fabled example is the irascible satirist, Abu Nuwas, a poet sponsored at the legendary court of Harun al-Raschid, who passed into the myth and legend of Golden Baghdad as a Faerie creature of Elysium, living within the tales of The Thousand and One Nights.